challenges and opportunities in higher education system … · challenges and opportunities in...

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Delhi Business Review Vol. 14, No. 2 (July - December 2013)

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN HIGHEREDUCATION SYSTEM IN INDIA

Vibhash Kumar*

URPOSEHIGHER Education (H.E.) today is one of the pillars of success for any Nation. So it becomesnecessary to know the specific challenges and opportunities in the H.E. system of the

country. This research paper, therefore, purports to finding out the specific sets of challenges andopportunities which are evident in the Indian H.E. system. This paper also seeks to know how thelevel of engagement in the faculty members of H.E. institutions should be improved.

Design/Methodology/Approach: Secondary data was used to infer the current scenario of H.E. inIndia. Based on the data certain recommendations were based. Also a survey questionnaire wasdesigned comprising of standardised scales of employee engagement, job performance, job involvement,job satisfaction, and intention to stay. Through an online and personal survey, data were collectedfrom the faculty members of the University of Delhi (DU). The questionnaires were sent to 180 facultymembers out of who 145 responded.

Findings: The main findings of the study were review based on the data available. It was found thatthe blueprints developed by the National Knowledge Commission (NKC), University Grant Commission(UGC) and others are very detailed and cover almost every aspect of Higher Education (H.E.) inIndia. However, it has been reviewed here that the plans so developed are not executed properly.Establishment of an audit body should be initiated to look after the implementation of strategies soplanned. There has to be a need based assessment system which shall look into the actions undertakenby the authorities in order to revamp the H.E. system. The most important finding of the paper wasthe level of engagement reported by the faculty members of DU. The researcher employed StructuralEquation Modelling (SEM) to develop a model of EE for the teaching fraternity in H.E..

Research Limitations/Implications: The researcher took into consideration the faculty membersof DU. The level of engagement can be measured and assessed for the faculty members of otheruniversities also to get a complete picture of the H.E. system prevailing in India.

Practical Implications: The results of this study would help the H.E. institutions in India to assessthe engagement levels among their faculty members. This paper would also help the policy makers todevelop requisite policies and most importantly implement those policies to uplift the state of H.E. inIndia.

Originality/Value: This study is a novel initiation to look into the human resource needs of thefaculty members of H.E. institutions. This paper is probably among the very few papers which look

* Research Scholar, Department of Commerce, Faculty of Commerce and Business, Univeristy of Delhi, Delhi, India.

This paper was conferred the best paper award in the technical session 1 on “Higher Education: Challenges and Opportunities”in the XIV Annual International Conference on Globalizaton: Challenges and Opportunities held at Lisbon, Portugal, on June22, 2013.

P

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into the transition required for a faculty member viz. from a teacher to facilitator, from facilitator tocoach, and mentor.

Key Words: Higher Education (H.E.), Employee Engagement (EE), Spiritually Aligned EmployeeEngagement (SAEE) Scale.

IntroductionThe higher education system in India at present is at a transition stage. A stage where changes havetaken place for good and more transformations in thoughts and processes are desired. Higher educationsystem in any nation today seeks a relook. The world is being slowly but steadily turned into a globalvillage. Synchronisation and harmony among the global universities across the globe can create syncthroughout, wherein the nurturing of the young minds may be accustomed to the changes desired.Another aspect which is very important today is the concept of blended learning. It is just the next stepto the previous idea of creating a harmonization of higher education across the globe. Students from allover the world will be benefitted from the expertise of the renowned academicians. The harmony maycreate a balance in learning and research thereafter.

For India however, the problem is deep-rooted and a higher education reform is the need of the hour. TheNational Knowledge Commission (NKC) Report, (2009) has been very apt and the Government has tolend a keen ear to the problems in hand. Fortunately the Indian Government has taken up many of theCommission’s proposals. For example, India’s Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-2012) for higher educationhad been crafted within the framework of NKC’s policy recommendations. “The Eleventh Plan sawnine fold increase in the public spending on higher education which fuelled significant inclusive expansionin the public higher education sector. However, there has been no significant improvement in terms ofquality of higher education delivery. The issues of skill gaps, skill shortages, and unemployable graduatesstill persist” (FICCI-E&Y, 2012). So we see that India’s Higher Education sector has seen remarkablegrowth. In terms of the number of institutions in the higher education system, India holds the numero-uno position. India has shown tremendous growth in the number of institutions and enrolment; howeverit still faces the challenges on several counts such as inequitable and low access to higher education,dearth of competent faculty, deficient infrastructure, and most importantly inadequate research.

Another aspect of India’s higher education woes is that problems are not taken care of at the grass-rootlevel. The students are not engaged in the system. Right from their enrolment they face numerousproblems which remain mostly unsaid. They do not get quality education because of the concept of rotelearning being practiced. The syllabus remains orthodox which has little relevance in the presentscenario. The revisions of the syallbuses are not done in a regular manner. The pedagogy of the wholeeducation system seems to be flawed. The overall evaluation system encourages rote learning and thereis little value addition. The teachers are not engaged enough to engage the students in return. Thisresearch paper is a quest to study the engagement of the faculty members of one of the premierUniversities of India viz. the University of Delhi.

Higher Education Challenges and Opportunities: Literature Review

Curriculum Design/AlignmentThe expectation of society is different nowadays. The authorities who decide upon the policies shouldtake a note of the situation. To be competent and to be at par with global competitors, the H.E.institutions should provide interdisciplinary programs to the students to meet the 21st century’shigher education demands (Rae, 2007). H.E. institutions require reorganizing courses, programs, andstructures to suit the aspirations and needs of the students (Hanna, 2003). So H.E. Institutions requireto redesign or align their curriculum to support today’s’ students to fit globally (Hirsch and Weber,1999). Bridges (2000) also state the importance of curriculum design in today’s higher education.

Student EmployabilityEmployability is a very important aspect of H.E. system. Students seek educational opportunitiesto enter the world of jobs (West, 1999). According to Bridges (2000) the real requirement today is to

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take into serious consideration the student placement, and in this process inculcate the requisiteskills and habits viz. original analytical thinking, communication skills, superior presentationskills, working in teams, and information technology. This will help in aligning the students withthe industry. Therefore, H.E. Institutions should make their curriculum more practical and industryoriented instead of traditional methods being followed. Singh and Sharma (2008) have emphasizedthe emerging role the industry could play in the Indian context, in ushering collaboration with theeducation sector; they recommend that industry could play a vital role in increasing the growthprospects of educational institutions. They also emphasized the role of government, industryassociations, R&D institutions, and universities in order to strengthen the interface betweenindustry – R&D – academia.

Quality of Learning and TeachingThe way out to compete with smart people across the globe is to ensure smart learning and qualityteaching. If the H.E. institutions co-ordinate with the industry and other H.E. institutions, then itcan foster towards improved and required set of skills, learning, and teaching (Tiropanis et al.,2009). Therefore, the beneficiaries will be the students who will have more access and informationabout the latest developments across the industry and the teachers will be acquainted with thevalid facets of their subjects (Hirsch and Weber, 1999; Hanna, 2003). Singh and Sahi (2012) validatethe significant relationship between active experimentation learning style and preference for facilitatorinstruction approach, which could help the teachers to improve the quality of learning and teaching.

Quality of ResearchThe dire need for today’s H.E. institutions is to strengthen their research capacity. In order toachieve this challenge H.E. Institutions require to initiate multiple disciplines (centres) under oneroof. This would help integrating varied areas of expertise and building relationships among differentteams along with industry experts to establish their research capacity. It has also been acknowledgedthat pruning and nurturing of high quality research is one of the most important tasks carved andfor the H.E. institutions (Hirsch and Weber, 1999; Hanna, 2003).

Compete and Collaborating Globally in Research and TalentThere is a global competition for talent in top students, researchers, & lecturers. Institutions needto compete at a world-class level in teaching & research. H.E. institutions should set a bar forhighest standard of research; this would lead to international recognition which could furtherbring in higher quality and higher standard of research (Hirsch and Weber, 1999).

Adopting Emerging TechnologyA varied range of tools which aid H.E. are available these days, thanks to the revolutionarydevelopment of information technology (Fox, 1998; Hanna, 2003). The recent technological aids forH.E., offer mobility and access from anywhere and at anytime (Fox, 1998). Technologies like internetand its associated technologies can increase the capacity of an educator more quickly, easily andmore scalable to help students make connections to content, context, and community – resulting inmore powerful learning experience (West, 1999). Gupta, Singh, Malhotra, and Rastogi (2003)advocated the role of information Technology (IT) in teaching and education system, they furtherassert that the IT industry could play a direct role in IT education in particular and education ingeneral. Developing direct linkages with IT industry would strengthen the quality education onone hand and also meet the needs of the IT industry on the other (Gupta et al., 2003).

AssessmentAssessment is a key process in Higher Education. According to Macdonald and Carroll (2006), theH.E. institutions in order to tackle the irregularities in assessment should create effectivemechanisms. Assessment should be made student friendly, so that a student never suffers in thepretext of the errors committed by the evaluator or the assimilator.

New Generation of StaffThe best-organized institution is worth nothing, if it does not have a qualified teaching staff; unqualifiedstaffs means poor teaching and unimaginative research (Hirsch and Weber, 1999). As per Bridges

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(2000), to teach the curriculum including employability skills successfully, universities need todevelop the new capacities among their traditional teaching staff and new approaches to theirteaching. H.E. institutions will need to develop faculty and staff dedicated to engaging a diversityof learners with more complex learning needs.

Integration of Knowledge Capital and Cross-Curricular InitiativesTo support better learning and teaching activities, integration of H.E. knowledge capital like researchoutput, learning and teaching materials, etc., is essential (Tiropanis et al., 2009). Also cross-curricularactivity in learning and teaching is essential to improve the standard of the H.E. institutions.According to Tiropanis et. al., (2009), cross-curricular activities in emerging areas by matchingteachers to new programme and module definitely enhance the quality of learning and teaching inH.E. institutions. Hence, it becomes one of the most important target of today’s demanding anddiverse H.E. (Bridges, 2000).

Higher Education Governance and ManagementHigher education institutions’ governing bodies are responsible for ensuring the effectivemanagement of the institution and for planning its future development. They are ultimatelyresponsible for all the affairs of the institutions. Generally, they are responsible for approvinginstitutional mission and the strategic plan, financial solvency, resourcing policy, employment andHuman Resource (HR) policy and strategy, estates policy, senior appointments and remuneration,audit, legal compliance, determining educational character and mission, and so on. They are facingchallenges to effectively manage the institutions hence become one of the crucial challenges in H.E.(Hirsch and Weber, 1999). To cope with this challenge, institutions need better leadership who willbe able to provide academic freedom to enable them to make collective decisions with the newrequirements that is the necessity to make and implement important and often unpopular decisionsin a timely manner (Hirsch and Weber, 1999; Hanna, 2003).

National Knowledge Commission Report (2009): An Overview1 Establishing numerous universities and colleges to cater to the ever rising Indian population.

2 To reform the regulatory system of H.E. system in India. There is a proposal to establish anIndependent Regulatory Authority for Higher Education (IRAHE). To redefine the role of theUniversity Grants Commission (UGC), and to limit the role of the All India Council for TechnicalEducation (AICTE), the Medical Council of India (MCI) and the Bar Council of India (BCI) intotheir respective professional associations. The entry and the regulatory functions being performedby these aforementioned shall be undertaken by the IRAHE.

3 To expand the public spending on education and to diversify the funding required for sourcingthe H.E.

4 To establish 50 National universities.

5 Bring reformation in the existing universities and colleges functioning, which would includethe revision of the curricula at least once in three years. Transition to credit system instead ofmarks system and scheme of internal assessment throughout the year instead of annualexaminations being prominent among the reforms suggested.

6 Promoting the enhanced quality of H.E. learning is also emphasised. This includes refurbishingof the infrastructure currently available, stringent information disclosure practice for the collegesto disclose the exact financial position and the value of assets and liabilities, faculty positions,level of accreditation and so on.

7 Ensuring quality education for everyone who deserves it, so that financial constraint doesn’thamper the talented students. Need based admission policy have been emphasised. Theintroduction of all extensive and well-funded scholarship schemes should be introduced to caterto the requirements of the needy and deserving students.

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The Eleventh and Twelfth Five Year Plan on H.E.: A ReviewDuring the 11th Plan, provision was made for setting up of 16 new Central Universities and 374 ModelColleges in low Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) districts. The Government of India (GOI) has provided forconnected expansion with equity by implementing the recommendations which were forwarded by theOversight Committee. Achieving the requisite quality and supporting timely reforms to bring excellencein H.E. were on the continued focus.

But considerable challenges remain: According to UGC Compilation (2012) “All adopted measures yieldedresults with a significant increase in enrolments and reduction in overall social group disparities.However, as this 12th FYP document states, considerable challenges still remain. Access to highereducation is still less than the minimum international threshold levels, distribution of institutions isskewed; enrolment in public universities is largely concentrated in the conventional disciplines, whereasin the private self-financed institutions, the student enrolment is overwhelmingly in the market-drivendisciplines.” The areas to be on prime importance in the 12th five year plan are curriculum reformsbased on regular revisions, upgradation of the syllabus from time to time, introduction of the semestersystem in all the universities, need based quality enhancement; as majority of our higher educationinstitutions perform poorly in the area of quality on a relatively global scale (UGC Compilation, 2012).UGC emphasizes on the consolidation and finest use of infrastructure which has already been createdin the 11th plan through the triple objectives of access and expansion, quality and excellence, and equityand inclusion. The proposals to be implemented in the 12th plan are:

Achieving Higher Access through Expansion Increasing and enhancing access through mission mode national plan “Rashtriya Uchch Shiksha

Abhiyan (RUSA)” which aims to achieve 25% GER by bringing forth the upgradation ofAutonomous colleges, promoting evening universities & colleges for those who have little timein day to spare, increasing the intake capacity keeping in mind the requirements, advocatingthe concept of Cluster University, and Meta University.

Promoting equity education for all and at all levels of entry.

Reduction of regional, gender, and disciplinary imbalances.

Equal opportunity cells

Promoting the quality through performance, better human resource management, schemes toencourage higher quality research, etc.

Capacity building and capability enhancement.

Promoting public private partnership (PPP).

Leadership Development Programme.

Reforming the financing system.

State of Higher Education in IndiaThe shortage of skilled man-power is a cause for concern in most streams of H.E. in India. Expertsacknowledge that the present higher education system in India is not equipped to address this problemwithout some changes in the basic structure. The challenges today for the H.E. in India are:

1. Too less universities and colleges to sustain the huge population of India, more universities areneeded to improve the gross enrolment ratio (GER): The most important challenge today for IndianH.E. sector is to establish many new universities and colleges.

2. The quality of H.E. in India is abysmal.

3. It is difficult for common people of India to assess the echelons of H.E. in India.

4. The structure of the governance in India is at a very poor state.

5. The H.E. in India is not governed and regulated in an independent manner.

6. The funding and investment in H.E. needs to be redefined.

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7. Location hindrance: most of the premier institutes are located in big cities and already developedplaces. If the quest is to reach the deprived sections of the society and those who are marginalised,then the new H.E. institutions should be set up in remote places of India.

8. Entering of Foreign players: With the Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of Entry andOperations) Bill, 2010 (The Hindu, 2012), the entry of the foreign universities will be very easy inthe present domestic setup. More intense competitions from the quality players in the H.E. areenvisaged.

9. Popularity of regular class teaching going down and correspondence studies becoming popular. Ithas been reported by IGNOU that there are 30 lakh students presently enrolled in it. Though, it issoothing to see such numbers in open learning environment, but the regular teaching is loosingsheen is a point to ponder over.

On one hand, we see that new universities and colleges are being set up, and on the other hand collegesare being shut down for want of proper accreditation. So the paradox is quite evident then, there is novalue addition.

Table 1: Number, Nature and Category of Institutions (As on August, 2011)

Type of Institutions Number

Central Universities 43

State Universities 289

State Private Universities 94

Deemed to be Universities 129

Institutes of National Importance plus*Other Institutes 50

Institutions established under State Legislature Acts 5

Total 611

Total Colleges 31,323

Source: UGC Compilation, 2012.

As we see in the Table 1 the picture at the macro level becomes clear. The number of colleges operatingin India is quite enormous. The future scope however hints towards many more colleges. AdditionallyIndia requires not only quantity but quality of H.E. institutions also. Despite having over 300 universities,not a single Indian university is listed in the top 100 universities of the world.

Table 2: Student Enrolment*: Level-wise: 2009-10

Sl. Level University Affiliated Total (% to PercentageNo. Departments Colleges in Affiliated Colleges)

1 Graduate 12,35,537 1,14,22,835 1,26,58,372 90.24(86.55)

2 Post-Graduate 4,90,261 11,90,567 16,80,828 70.83(11.49)

3 Research 97,669 20,330 1,17,999 17.23(0.81)

4 Diploma/Certificate 95,366 72,425 1,67,791 43.16(1.15)

5 Grand Total 19,18,833 1,27,06,157 1,46,24,990 86.88(100.00)

* Provisional

Source: UGC Annual Report, 2009-10.

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So the requirements point towards a paradigm shift in the management, regulation, funding, curriculumdevelopment, industry interface, student employability, quality education and research, facultydevelopment, and so on. This research paper thereby aims to study the most important and criticalaspect for ensuring the quality and excellence in H.E. institutions viz. the faculty. To sustain with thevision of the expansion drive in the H.E. system in India it is imperative to attract, engage, and therebyretain the best talents as faculty members. Through this paper, we would like to study this importantaspect of the engagement of the faculty members and how this can help the H.E. system to rejuvenateitself with competent, talented, and engaged resource persons as faculty members. So the core issue isto engage the present faculty members and attract the new generation to take up this as a career toreinforce the expansion drive along with the vision to have a H.E. system which can compete with theglobal challenges.

Employee Engagement and Intrinsic Motivation: A ReviewKahn (1990) led the way in the engagement research and defined it as “the harnessing of organizationmembers’ selves to their work roles” (p. 695). Such harnessing can be altered to suit one’s purpose –thereby a person can put to use variable levels of one’s physical, cognitive, and emotional energies tothe work. In this context, we have employed Employee Engagement as a tool to measure the level ofengagement in the employees of the organizations in general and faculty members in particular.

We have also taken into account the intrinsic motivation construct to measure the flow as envisaged byCsikszentmihalyi (1990). Ryan & Stiller (1991) envisage that Intrinsic Motivation has materialized asan essential phenomenon for the H.E. educators - a natural source of learning and achievement. Highquality learning and creative zeal are the possible results of Intrinsic motivation (Ryan & Deci, 2000),and, therefore, it seems to come handy when the faculty members who are the pioneer of H.E. learningexhibit intrinsic motivation.

Objectives1. To study the varied challenges in the higher education system in India.

2. To study the varied opportunities in the higher education system in India.

3. To study the level of employee engagement (EE) among the faculty members of the University ofDelhi (DU).

4. To study the impact of employee engagement (EE) on the job performance of the faculty membersof DU.

5. To study the impact of EE on the job involvement (JI) of the faculty members of DU.

6. To study the impact of EE on the job satisfaction (JS) of the faculty members of DU.

7. To study the relationship between EE and intention to stay (ITS) of the faculty members of DU.

8. To study the impact of EE on the intrinsic motivation (Flow) of the faculty members of DU.

9. To bring out a model of EE and assess whether the model addresses the problem of engagement ofthe faculty members of DU.

HypothesesH01: EE has no impact on the JP of the faculty members of DU.

H02: EE has no impact on the JI of the faculty members of DU.

H03: EE has no impact on the JS of the faculty members of DU.

H04: EE has no impact on the ITS of the faculty members of DU.

H05: EE has no impact on the intrinsic motivation (Flow) of the faculty members of DU.

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Research Methodology

Sample for the StudyThe research was conducted using survey methodology and the collection of the data was based onstratified random sampling. The University of Delhi (DU) was considered to study the level ofengagement shown by the faculty members. Over the last seven decades, the university has grown intoone of the largest universities in India. At present, there are 16 faculties, 86 academic departments,77 colleges and 5 other recognised institutes spread all over the city, with 132435 regularstudents (UG: 114494, PG:17941) and 261169 students (UG:258831,PG:2338) in non-regular(Distance Mode) education programme (Delhi University, 2013). The study was conducted amongthe faculty members of the University of Delhi (DU). The standardised questionnaire was employed tomeasure the employees’ engagement. Job performance was further classified into in role performance(IRP) and organization citizenship behaviour for individual and organization (OCBI and OCBO).Intention to stay (ITS) was measured by incorporating the continuance commitment scale.

Sample CompositionThe questionnaire for faculty members of DU was addressed to them with the help of the head ofdepartment (HOD). The HOD selected the employees on the basis of their employee codes. To havea sound analysis of the data generated, they were first checked for discrepancies and then analysed.Out of the 180 questionnaire sent, we received 145 responses from the faculty members of DU. Weconsidered 101 survey responses (145 less 44 incomplete). Six employees were in top level of theorganisation concerned, 28 were in the middle level, and 67 were in the junior level. The levels inthe organization were assessed on the basis of seniority, qualification, post, and the position of theemployees.

Questionnaires: EE was measured by summing up 15 items (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.902) takenfrom the Spiritually Aligned Employee Engagement (SAEE) scale developed by Kumar and Singh(2013). The items reflect three components of spirituality, meaningfulness, and alignment (SMAA).

Job Performance (JP) was measured on the scale developed by Williams and Anderson (1991).This is a twenty one item scale which has been used in our study to measure. In Role Performance(IRP), Organization Citizenship Behaviour for Individual (OCBI) and for organization (OCBO). TheCronbach’s alpha for this performance scale came out to be 0.818.

Job Involvement (JI) Ten item variable scale of Job Involvement Questionnaire (JIQ), developedby Kanungo (1982), was used. These items were summated to have a job involvement score. Thereliability (Cronbach’s alpha) of this item scale on involvement comes out to be 0.869.

Job Satisfaction (JS) was measured through the four item scale given by Brayfield and Rothe(1951). Singh & Sharma (2011) in their research study focus on how having knowledge managementin the organization which can ensure management success and consequently job satisfaction. Thefour items were summated to have job satisfaction score. The reliability (Cronbach’s alpha) of thisitem scale on involvement comes out to be 0.759.

Intention to Stay (ITS): Organizations have recognized and approved the significance of humanresource in an organization, therefore, they intend to retain and develop talented people (Singh, 1996;2002). Singh (1996; 2002) additionally assert that it is not just the engaged employees who wouldlike to stay in the organization and have a prolonged association, the organizations also make sincereefforts to retain their engaged employees. Singh and Kumar (2013) also assert the role of spiritualleadership to bring about an integration and alignment of the employees which could ward of theproblems of attrition. We measured the perception of the employees regarding the intention tostay (ITS) through the continuance component model of commitment; revised version (Meyer andAllen, 2004; Meyer, Allen, and Smith, 1993). Two of the questions which were negatively phrasedwere reverse coded and then the five items were summated to get a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.815.

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Analysis and InterpretationNormality of the Data: The normality test was conducted on the SAEE scale. In order to check thenormalcy of the data set, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and Shapiro-Wilk Test were used. The resultshave been depicted in the Table 3.

Table 3: Tests of Normality

Kolmogorov-Smirnova Shapiro-Wilk

Statistic df Sig. Statistic df Sig.

SMAA 0.089 101 0.051 0.972 101 0.052

a. Lilliefors Significance Correction

The p value of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and the Shapiro-Wilk test should not be significant at 0.05level, therefore, as we see in the table the data is normal.

Structural Equation Modelling: In order to test the underlying structure of the model, the researcheremployed the structural equation modelling (SEM). The software used for testing SEM was AMOS 20.0(Analysis of Moments Structure). The study purports to find out the level of employee engagementamong the faculty members of DU. We further test the model to find out whether or not the engagedemployees exhibit good JP, JI, JS, state of intrinsic motivation (flow), and ITS.

Figure 1

SMAAE = Spirituality, Meaningfulness, and Alignment, EE = Employee Engagement,JOBPER = Job Performance, JOBSAT = Job Satisfaction, JOBINV = Job Involvement, ITS= Intention to Stay.

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The study purports to find out the level of employee engagement among the faculty members of DU.The study further test the model to find out whether or not the engaged employees exhibit good JP, JI,JS, state of intrinsic motivation (flow), and ITS. The model is shown in Figure 2. Fifteen items scaleconsisting of five items of spirituality, six items of meaningfulness, and four items on alignment wasused to measure SAEE (Kumar and Singh, 2013). We see in the Figure 1, that the standardisedregression beta in the EM1 is 0.38, which is less than 0.5. As envisaged by MacKenzie et al., (2005),this item needs to be deleted and, therefore, EM1 was removed and the model was tested again asshown in the Figure 2.

Figure 2

In order to improve the model fit, the researcher took into consideration the modification indices andconsequently modified the model in conformity with the literature. The model fit in the previous modeland the revised one is assimilated in Table 3.

Sl. No. Indices Standard Before After(Moderate Fit) Modification Modification

1 CMIN/df < 3 3.087 1.877

2 GFI >0.80 0.635 0.810

3 CFI >0.80 0.689 0.891

4 IFI >0.80 0.694 0.894

5 RMSEA <0.10 0.144 0.094

Source: Iacobucci (2010).

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As we see in the Table 3 the model fit has significantly improved after the modifications were done.Now the model shows a very good fit, therefore, the model as depicted in Figure 2 is accepted.

Table 4: Assessing the Hypotheses

Estimate S.E. C.R. P Results

H01

EE—->JOBPER 1.831 0.371 4.933 *** Reject H01

H02

EE—->JOBINV 2.041 0.293 6.961 *** Reject H02

H03

EE—->JOBSAT 0.760 0.099 7.671 *** Reject H03

H04

EE—->ITS *** Reject H04

H05

EE—->FLOW 0.558 0.120 4.656 *** Reject H05

As we see in the Figure 2 and Table 4 that EE has a positive significant impact to the extent of 28% onthe JP of the faculty members of DU. Similarly, EE explains 57%, 70%, 50%, and 25% of the variationsin JI, JS, ITS, and intrinsic motivation (flow). The relationship depicted here also shows positive andsignificant impact of EE on JI, JS, ITS, and intrinsic motivation (flow) at a significance level of 0.001.

Discussions and RecommendationsThere is a total change of scenario in every aspect and H.E. system is not, therefore, an aberration. Thethought thereby comes into mind that this change should be positive and of worth. The researcher hasanalysed through this study, about the present conditions prevailing in India today. It is quite evidentthat policy changes are being initiated at the right earnest, however what is essential today is thatthose policies should see the light of the day to be of any effect. Today, we talk about demographicdividend, so the first thing which comes into mind is the revamp of the H.E. system in a fulfillingmanner. Though, the GER has increased manifolds, yet presently it is 17.87% which is among thelowest levels in the world. The UGC has initiated in the 12th five year plan, a massive student aid toincrease the GER to 30% by 2020 (Express News Service, 2012). So the crux is that still the GER standsat an abysmal place for India, clearly depicting that the policy being formulated is not being transformedinto reality or rather the policy formulated never sees the light of the day.

There are many resolves taken almost every day, but what is really important is to realise the resolvesthrough continuous appraisal. The study clearly emphasises on some points which have already beenrecommended by the NKC and others that new institutions should grow at a faster pace in order tobear the growing population of India. It also seeks a complete overhaul in the spear of regulation andmanagement of the H.E. system in India, further the need is to strengthen the existing infrastructure,to reform the system of funding and investment, to ensure high quality relevant research in an increasednumber, and very importantly raise the standard and quality of the faculty members to ensure qualityengagement with the student and consequently an engaged H.E. system. With the help of the primarydata collected, the research was in a position to look into the last aspect of ensuring the engagement offaculty members in one of the premier universities viz. the University of Delhi (DU). The results werean eye-opener, it reveals that a faculty member who finds meaningfulness in his work, experiencesspirituality, and is aligned with the role fit he is offered, is an engaged faculty: who consequentlydemonstrates greater JP, JI, JS, ITS, and intrinsic motivation to work. So the basic trait for a facultymember is to inculcate the virtue of engagement with the work entrusted. When we talk about facultyengagement, in the same vein the researcher points towards the engagement of the student in thelearning being offered, it is very obvious that a student will be interested towards the things beingtaught in the class only when the faculty member is able to harness his abilities into the work he isperforming. Consequently, a faculty member can harness his self (Kahn, 1990) into the learning andteaching mode when he is engaged and is willing to go the extra mile in order to accomplish the goals

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Vibhash Kumar

for his organization and thus for the system at large. So the challenges for the classroom teaching canbe adhered by engaging the faculty and students. One more critical aspect here is the ability of thefaculty to be able to inspire the students; the quest is whether the faculty members today are able to dothis? The answer is tricky and is subjective in essence. Some teachers are able to inspire students someare not. So the teachers need to change their roles in a succinct manner from a teacher to a facilitator,and from a facilitator to coach and mentor ultimately. Another aspect of this is that we do not know toinvest in people in this case the faculty members; there is a need to develop the human resourcemanagement techniques so that we could identify the real targets – the faculty members. When we sayinvestment in people we mean engaging them, capturing their minds and hearts at each stage of theirwork lives and consequently retaining them in the organization itself to improve the cause of learning.

The problem of students not turning up in the classrooms for regular lectures stems from the same factthat they are not aligned and engaged with the things taught. The problem of rote learning surfaceshere. The pedagogy, therefore, needs to be changed at the earliest to suit the requirements of thecurrent environment, so that the student is able to relate it with the same. This can be done only whenthere is a system of continuous evaluation based on internal assessment throughout the year and noton the basis of an annual examination which tests only the retention and memorizing skills of thestudents. Continuity should not only be practiced for evaluation of the student but also for the developmentof curriculum which is again very critical and important. Curriculum should be based on the dynamicsof the environment which is ever changing. There are few things which require revision almost annuallyand some learnings are almost always constant, the need is to know and recognise the same to aid inproper development of the curricula which again requires sincere efforts.

India today requires industry smart students. How can that be facilitated? The answer again pointstowards faculty development. There can be three recommendations for the same which are being followedby some H.E. Institutes in India. The need of the hour is to make this a blanket policy for all H.E.system in India.

1. To bring industry professionals to deliver lectures to the students or more appropriately providestudents with the guidance and mentoring of industry people who are well versed in the systemprevailing in the corporate echelons.

2. To provide training to the faculty members so that they become able to train the budding studentsin return.

3. To make industry training mandatory for the students right from graduation so that they mayeasily fit on to the tedious requirements of the industry, right from the onset.

The researcher has tested the level of engagement among the faculty members of DU. The results arequite encouraging, it says that spirituality, meaningfulness, and alignment together explain 87% ofthe variation in EE. EE in turn explains 28%, 57%, 70%, 50%, and 25% of JP, JI, JS, ITS, and Intrinsicmotivation (Flow). The results clearly depict that it is not the physical infrastructure (though it is animportant part of H.E. system) which delivers, it is the engaged faculty members that can deliver whatis the need for the hour!

The review of almost all the recommendations given by the NKC Report (2009), UGC Annual Report(2009-10), Yashpal Committee (2009) suggest that the challenges being faced by the Indian H.E. systemis well documented and good remedies have been also suggested. However, the researcher feels thatthere is a dire need to implement all the valid recommendations after due deliberations at the earliest.Further, it has to be ensured that the requisite step is being taken and that it does not succumb in thepipeline. The researcher also recommends that an audit agency/committee/department be formed inorder to look into the works which are done by the H.E. regulatory bodies viz. UGC, AICTE, MCI, BCIin consonance with the IRAHE. This will ensure a watchdog to look into the irregularities faced by theH.E. institutions in India.

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The H.E. system in India needs to look into the youth of the country. Capacity building is the requisitenow. To achieve demographic dividend H.E. needs to be revolutionised. The GER should increasemanifolds to match the international levels. Another recommendation is the development of humaninfrastructure; it is presently drawing attention the world over in every sphere. H.E. is also not anaberration here. Proper policy execution will ensure some kind of value addition in terms of humaninfrastructure. Quality of faculty members needs to be looked into. Proper training and screeningshould be done to get the best of the lot. Remunerations for the faculty members should be the best inthe institutions in order to lure the bright members into this profession. The able faculty members inturn will surely inspire the students. This may take care of the problems being faced by the class roomteaching nowadays.

The future of the H.E. system in India does not look bleak in totality. The need is to understand the realrequirements; the problems should be sought at the grassroots level to begin with. Policy making forH.E. has been very sound, however, the time now demands action on the same with precision. The needtoday is also to have competent faculty members who are engaged in their work and have sound qualitycompetence. India cannot afford to have below par faculty now as the world is now being transformedinto a global village. The pedagogy, the regulations, the evaluation criteria, the curricula, theinfrastructure all of them need to be revamped from time to time to list India among the quality playersin H.E. system.

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